C44 Ponziani Opening and Scotch Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Be7)

The game I am sharing today was played on the first round of the 2014 September Glacial Super Casual I tournament. The second round of the tournament started less than a month ago at Red Hot Pawn. I think it was one of my games that was the last one to finish on round one, I am not sure how long it was the last group deciding game to be in progress, but I think it was like that for months. The game lasted over three years and it is easily the longest game I have ever played. My opponent eventually lost on time, so in a way it was a shame, but I think I should have won that game eventually anyway. I ended up winning my group, so I advanced to the second round.

The first odd decision from my opponent was to play 5.Be3 after moving the bishop to g5 on the previous move. Moving the bishop the second time is a waste of time. While I was in the better side of the board after that my advantage was not anywhere near winning until my opponent made the huge blunder 8.h3.

It gave me an opportunity to play 8...d4 and trap the bishop. Unfortunately I just played 8...Be6 instead, not at all looking the possibilities and just developed a piece. Chippy Minton made a second terrible move in a row, 9.O-O, which allowed me a chance to play d4 once again. I was not going to miss my chance to win material a second time and the game was decided with my 9th move d4. The rest of the game was smooth sailing to me, but it took me awhile to get the win, my opponent only resigned after my 35th move, Nb4.

[Event "Glacial Super Casual"] [Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"] [Date "2014.09.13"] [Round "1"] [White "Chippy Minton"] [Black "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C44"] [WhiteElo "1426"] [BlackElo "1943"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "70"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 {King's Knight Opening: Normal Variation} 3. d3 (3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 d6 5. c4 {Spanish Game: Morphy Defense, Modern Steinitz Defense (#3)} ( 5. Nc3 {Spanish Game: Morphy Defense, Modern Steinitz Defense}) (5. O-O { Spanish Game: Morphy Defense, Modern Steinitz Defense})) 3... Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 { C44 Ponziani Opening and Scotch Gambit} 5. Be3 $146 (5. Nbd2 d5 6. exd5 Nxd5 7. Bxe7 Qxe7 8. c4 Nf6 9. h3 O-O 10. Be2 Bf5 11. O-O Rad8 12. Re1 Rfe8 13. Nh4 Be6 14. Bf1 Nd7 15. Nhf3 f6 16. Ne4 Nc5 17. Nxc5 Qxc5 18. Qc2 Bf5 19. Rad1 Re7 { Braunecker,U-Deventer,B Speyer 1986 1/2-1/2}) (5. c3 d5 6. Nbd2 O-O 7. Be2 Be6 8. O-O Re8 9. a3 Nd7 10. Bxe7 Qxe7 11. Ne1 Nf6 12. Nc2 Rad8 13. Qe1 Qc5 14. Kh1 a5 15. Rc1 Qb6 16. b4 axb4 17. cxb4 Ra8 18. exd5 Bxd5 19. Nc4 Bxc4 {Chalus, K-Hosticka,F (2235) Czechia 1997 0-1 (90)}) (5. g3 d6 6. Bg2 Be6 7. d4 Nxe4 8. Bxe7 Qxe7 9. d5 Bg4 10. dxc6 bxc6 11. Nbd2 d5 12. O-O Rb8 13. Qc1 Ng5 14. Nxg5 Qxg5 15. b3 O-O 16. Nf3 Qf5 17. Qg5 Qxg5 18. Nxg5 h6 19. Nf3 Rfe8 {Navas Duran, A-Pastrana Blanco,J (1685) Malaga 2001 1/2-1/2 (52)}) (5. Bxf6 Bxf6 6. Nc3 (6. Nbd2 d5 7. Be2 Be6 8. O-O O-O 9. h3 Qd7 10. Nh2 Rad8 11. Bg4 Nd4 12. f4 exf4 13. Rxf4 dxe4 14. Nxe4 Be5 15. Nc5 Qd5 16. Nxe6 Nxe6 17. Bf3 Qc5+ 18. Kh1 Bxf4 19. Ng4 Rd6 20. Qf1 Qg5 {Mihelich, J-Worthey,R Flint 1992 0-1 (69)}) 6... g6 7. Be2 d6 8. O-O Be6 9. a3 Qd7 10. Qd2 h6 11. h3 Bg7 12. Rab1 f5 13. exf5 gxf5 14. Nh4 Rg8 15. Bf3 O-O-O 16. Bxc6 Qxc6 17. Nf3 Bf6 18. Kh1 Rxg2 19. Kxg2 Rg8+ { Genske,S-Janknecht,E Bremen 1992 0-1}) (5. Nc3 d6 $11) 5... O-O 6. Be2 d5 { Black threatens to win material: d5xe4} 7. Nbd2 h6 8. h3 $4 {Secures g4} (8. c3 a5 $15) 8... Be6 $4 {White has a cramped position. throws away a nice position} (8... d4 {might be the shorter path} 9. Bxh6 gxh6 10. Nh2 $19) 9. O-O $4 (9. c3 $142 $11 {was necessary}) 9... d4 $19 10. Bxh6 (10. c3 dxe3 11. fxe3 Bc5 $19) 10... gxh6 11. a3 Kh7 12. b3 (12. Nh2 {cannot change what is in store for White } Rg8 13. Kh1 Bd6 $19) 12... Rg8 13. a4 (13. Kh1 $19 {is one last hope}) 13... Bxh3 14. Nh4 (14. Ne1 {does not solve anything} Qd7 15. Bf3 Rg6 $19) 14... Nxe4 $1 {Discovered attack: f6, Be7xh4} 15. Nxe4 (15. Nxe4 Bxh4 {Discovered attack}) (15. dxe4 Bxh4 {Discovered attack}) 15... Bxh4 16. Bf3 Qf8 (16... f5 $142 { might be the shorter path} 17. Kh2 Bg4 18. g3 $19) 17. Kh2 Be6 18. g3 (18. Rh1 {doesn't get the cat off the tree} f5 19. Kg1 Be7 $19) 18... Be7 19. Bh5 (19. a5 {doesn't change anything anymore} a6 $19) 19... Qg7 (19... f5 $142 $5 { keeps an even firmer grip} 20. Nd2 e4 21. a5 $19) 20. Rg1 Bg4 (20... f5 $142 $5 {and Black can already relax} 21. Nd2 e4 22. Qe2 $19) 21. Bxg4 Qxg4 22. Qxg4 ( 22. Nd2 {doesn't do any good} Qe6 $19) 22... Rxg4 23. f3 Rg6 24. Kg2 (24. Nd2 { doesn't get the bull off the ice} Rag8 $19) 24... Rag8 25. g4 f5 26. Nf2 fxg4 27. fxg4 Bh4 (27... Nb4 $142 {seems even better} 28. Rh1 Rc6 $19) 28. Kf1 (28. Rad1 {does not save the day} Nb4 29. Rd2 Nd5 $19) 28... Bxf2 (28... Rf8 $142 { secures victory} 29. Rg2 Rgf6 $19) 29. Kxf2 Rxg4 30. Rxg4 Rxg4 31. Kf3 (31. a5 {doesn't change the outcome of the game} a6 $19) 31... h5 32. Rh1 Kg6 33. Kf2 Kg5 34. Rg1 Rxg1 35. Kxg1 Nb4 (35... Nb4 36. a5 Kg4 37. a6 bxa6 38. Kf1 h4 39. c3 dxc3 40. Ke2 c2 41. Kd2 h3 42. d4 h2 43. dxe5 h1=Q 44. Kc3 c1=Q+ 45. Kxb4 Qd2+ 46. Ka3 Qa1#) 0-1